A Second Observation on An Inconvenient Truth

As an aside to my thoughts on seeing An Inconvenient Truth – a sort of secondary take-away from the film if you will – is how stunningly the act of campaigning for public office ruins a person. Most of us remember Al Gore from the 2000 presidential election as the sheet-faced academic automaton whose droning voice bored us to tears and narcolepsy. Yet in this film, the man is completely different.

Away from his political handlers, and speaking on a topic about which he is clearly passionate, he is engaging, funny, charming, principled, moral, and extremely human. If this had been the man running for president, the doofus now in office wouldn’t have had a chance!

Who are the political strategists that think the U.S. citizens are so stupid that we would only elect a bland moron? (Apparently they are mostly the Democratic ones, judging by the current make up of the government.) Why do they still have jobs? How can we even wonder at our own ennui, evidenced by our constantly abysmal voter turnout? If the football fans got something to watch besides baseball, they might get interested again.